Canadian stocks ended higher for a fourth straight session Wednesday, led by materials and gold stocks after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would continue a policy of aggressive easing until the unemployment rate in the country improved. Meanwhile, U.S. Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke's remarks before the Congress were also seen as supportive of leaving the monetary policy unchanged in the near future, providing relief to markets.
Nonetheless, Bernanke gave indications of slowing down the central bank's quantitative easing program in the near future. The Fed chief's negative sentiment came at his testimony before the Congress, when he said upbeat economic data could lead the central bank to scale back its asset purchase program in the next few meetings.
Addressing the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, Bernanke said any "premature tightening of monetary policy could lead interest rates to rise temporarily but would also carry a substantial risk of slowing or ending the economic recovery and causing inflation to fall further."
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed Wednesday at 12,752.50, up 10.07 points or 0.08 percent. The index touched an intraday high of 12,889.26 and a low of 2,735.58.
The Global Gold Index gained 2.25 percent, although gold futures for June delivery shed $10.20 or 0.7 percent to close at $1,367.40 an ounce Wednesday on the Nymex.
The Capped Materials Index gained 1.73 percent, with Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.(POT.TO) dropping 0.32 percent.
Among gold stocks, Yamana Gold Inc. (YRI.TO) gained 1.74 percent, while Goldcorp Inc. (G.TO) added 3.03 percent. IAMGOLD Corp. (IMG.TO) added 3.56 percent, while Kinross Gold Corp. (K.TO) surged 4.98 percent. Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX.TO) moved up 1.66 percent.
The Diversified Metals & Mining Index added 1.99 percent, with First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM.TO) adding 1.38 percent, Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN.TO) adding 2.97 percent, and Teck Resources (TCK.B.TO) gathering 3.33 percent.
An official weekly report from the EIA showed U.S. crude oil inventories to have dipped 0.30 million barrels, while gasoline stocks were up 3.00 million barrels in the week ended May 17. Analysts expected crude oil inventories to drop 1.2 million barrels last week, with gasoline stockpiles forecast to decrease 0.20 million barrels. Nonetheless, crude inventories at 395.5 million barrels were at its highest in at least 30 years.
The Energy Index slipped 0.13 percent, after U.S. crude oil futures for July delivery plunged $1.90 or 2.00 percent to close at $94.28 a barrel Wednesday on the Nymex.
Among energy stocks, Suncor Energy Inc. (SU.TO) slipped 1.04 percent, while Canadian Natural Resources Limited (CNQ.TO) edged down 0.16 percent. Canadian Oil Sands Limited (COS.TO) shed 1.87 percent, while Encana Corp. (ECA.TO) surrendered 0.55 percent.
The Financial Index slipped 0.07 percent, with Manulife Financial Corp. (MFC.TO) up 0.43 percent and Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) up 0.25 percent. Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO) shed 0.63 percent, while Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO) lost 0.42 percent.
The Information Technology Index dropped 1.29 percent, with BlackBerry (BB.TO) down 0.99 percent.
The Capped Industrials Index dipped 0.08 percent, with Bombardier Inc. (BBD.A.TO, BBD.B.TO) up 1.32 percent.
Multi-channel retailer Sears Canada Inc. (SCC.TO) gained 0.64 percent, after reporting a net loss of C$31.2 million or C$0.31 per share compared to net earnings of C$93.1 million or C$0.91 per share during the same quarter last year. Excluding the gain from lease terminations, the company's net loss was C$44.9 million for last year.
In economic news, Statistics Canada said retail sales were little changed at $39.5 billion in March However, removing the effects of price changes, particularly lower gasoline prices, retail sales in volume terms rose 0.7 percent.
In economic news from the U.S., the National Association of Realtors said existing home sales climbed 0.6 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million in April from an upwardly revised 4.94 million in March. Economists had been expecting existing home sales to rise to an annual rate of 5.0 million from the 4.92 million originally reported for the previous month.
Elsewhere, the euro area current account surplus surged to 25.9 billion euros in March largely due to an increase in trade surplus, the European Central Bank reported. The current account surplus amounted to 14.6 billion euros in February. The trade in goods totaled 21.8 billion euros, up sharply from 11.5 billion euros a month ago. However, the surplus on trade in services fell to 7.6 billion euros from 8.4 billion euros.
Meanwhile, retail sales in the UK declined unexpectedly in April, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volume, including auto fuel, fell 1.3 percent month-on-month in April against forecast for a 0.1 percent increase. Sales, excluding fuel, dropped 1.4 percent compared with an expected 0.1 percent growth.
The call for additional stimulus by Bank of England chief Mervyn King was overturned by other policymakers for the fourth consecutive month, minutes showed. As seen in previous months, King, Paul Fisher and David Miles sought an increase in quantitative easing by GBP 25 billion to GBP 400 billion.
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